Getting Inside the Hero's Head

I promised in an earlier post a couple of weeks ago that I would return to this subject.  I specifically said this:

I don’t “dip into” the hero’s head.  Most of my narrators are not omniscient, even in the limited sense.  They stay close, very close, to my protagonist’s.  Why?  Well, let’s save that for another blog post, shall we?  I have much to say on the subject.

I think it's time to return to this topic.  There are multiple reasons why I don't write traditional romance novels, and this is one of the main reasons.  Most traditional romance novels that follow the proper formula give the readers a little time in the hero's head.  I do not.  Every once in a while (you'll see in future books) I'll go there, but it's more an "observational" outside look; it's not the narrator taking a big drink of the hero's thought processes.  So, you might be asking, "Why not, Jade?  Everyone else does it!"

Here's my number one reason:  I don't ever want to suppose I (or my protagonists) know exactly how a man thinks, especially when it comes to matters of love and sex.  Actually, that's not entirely true.  I think I do know what a man is thinking sometimes (and trust me when I say I've confirmed it on occasion), and it's not what many romance books have to say on the subject.  For the record, let me just say this:  Men and women do not think the same way...in or out of bed.  Is that bad thing?  Hell, no.  But it is something I keep in mind when I write, and it is why I refuse to write a book where my narrator puts girlie thoughts in the guy's head. 

Here's what I read in typical romance novels from the hero's point of view:

Their fight had really messed him up.  He kept replaying it over and over in his mind...the tears streaking her cheeks, her quivering lip.  And even with her melting in front of him, he'd been a jerk.  But now, thinking back, he felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest.  So seeing her across the room now just tore him up, especially because she looked adorable.  He couldn't take back the words he said, but maybe she would listen to him now.  Should he tell her how hard he was falling or should he just walk away now and save himself the heartache that was sure to follow?

Really?  That's how I feel when I read stuff like this.  I know immediately that a woman wrote this.  If I were to write from a man's point of view, this would be how I would write the passage above (and I'm doing my best to "bleep" out the words I'd actually use in a book):

He regretted their fight, but there wasn't much he could do about it now.  Yes, he'd been a full blown a**hole, just like he'd promised he could be, and it would probably be an icy day in hell before he told anyone how guilty he felt now.  So...the cure?  Hang out with the guys and get totally jacked up on hard liquor.  Except the guys were already off doing their own things.  So he planned to do the next best thing:  Find a blond with a tight a** and t**s out to here and take her home.  That was the plan anyway, until he saw her across the room at the bar.  Well, that was nice.  How the hell was he supposed to erase her memory when she was right there, no way of removing her from his sights?  Screw this.  Maybe they could talk later, but not right now.  Right now he had to knock boots with some other woman...some Playmate-looking thing who could shout nasty strings of curses while riding him. Yep...that was always the cure for the stupidity of relationships.

Now, I don't really know that a guy would necessarily think that either (although I plan to ask one later!), but I imagine it's a little closer.  My take...?  I don't think guys think about rose petals and candlelit dinners unless they lead to a later goal.  Well, maybe they do once they're in a full-blown committed relationship, but unhitched guys are into romance when it leads to the promise of something else.  And, come on, girls...it's not like you don't want that too, right?  But you want the guy who bothers to make you feel loved and appreciated, and that's cool.  But don't ever fool yourself into thinking he thinks like you do.  Because he doesn't.  And that's the main reason why I don't take prolonged dips into the guy's head.

There's more, though.  Even though much of what I write resembles romance, it's closer to women's fiction.  I like to get in my protagonist's head and stay there for the most part.  I want readers to identify with her in every sense...what's she thinking?  What's she feeling?  What does the world look like to her?  We might get distracted if we flitted from one character to another.  And I want readers' sympathies with her too.  I don't want the readers divided in any sense.  I want them on my protagonist's side all the way.

Now, regarding the protagonist and what kind I want to write about, I suppose I'll save for another post.  Just like my narrator, I have a specific type of heroine I want to write (you probably already gathered that from my very first post).  I want her to be strong...no whimpering, whiny girl.  Let's talk about that next time!